Forgotten Fairy
by Aryelweb
Summary: Holly receives the shock of her life to learn that a fairy has been successfully living with humans for a decade without exposing the People. How did he do it? Or is there something deeper, something unconsidered?
1. Alleged Fairy

My first Artemis Fowl fanfic:D Can you guess who this person is? Probably, but I'm only keeping it in suspension for him.

If I look like I'm getting slack with this story, BUG ME by private message. I mean slack as in longer than a week. ;)

Read and Review, but NO FLAMES. I can't tolerate disrespectful rudeness. Constructive criticism (helping me get better, as opposed to downright insulting) is VERY welcome, though, feel free to point out mistakes nicely. ;)

---

_Two hazel eyes, in a void of black, widened in shock, laced with horror, reflecting concern. An explosion of pain. A large, disbelieving cry._

_The eyes disappeared in a flurry of dust._

---

He admitted it. He, the lowly, disrespected janitor of a boarding school, was probably the shortest human being for his age. At forty two years old, Jeffery Leland was just over one metre tall. Because of his obvious difference, new students stared at him for weeks before they were used to him. Small children _never_ became used to him. They would never stop staring at him until the worker glared icily back. _Stupid_ parents, did they _never_ teach their children anything about manners? Jeffery had been working at the academy for ten years, after a housefire, destroying everything including his birth certificate and not once had he seen a child rebuked by a parent.

Today, he was up earlier than usual. The eighth graders were going on a school camp far away from Dublin. This year, full of thirteen and fourteen year olds, were probably the noisiest every year. It was tradition to shriek at them at least ten times a day for them to _shut the hell up_. Now he would be in it – hell – alright.

Jeff's broom closet was neat and tidy for the next janitor, though the replacement would probably notice the empty hooks were always the highest. Jeff would kick him. A pale man, his face would tinge red when he was angry, an emotion which he experienced often. He became irritated at the slightest thing nowadays. He rolled his eyes as he remembered a teacher commenting about anger management. Screw them. Screw them all. Jeff resisted from kicking the wall in another spurt of anger.

He checked his watch, the tick vibrating loudly in the quiet dawn. Time to go, now, the bus would be at the school gates at any minute. Jeff searched the closet briefly and found his bag, a small one, packed only the night before at the last minute. He didn't own many clothes except for his uniform, which he was wearing now. The kids could put up with it, he didn't give a stuff.

The janitor slammed the closet door shut, one strap of the pack draped across his shoulder, holding the heavy load, full of repellent and today's lunch and breakfast, the latter of which he would eat on the bus, like everyone else.

Jeff Leland walked away from his home – he had slept in there, after all – for the past ten years. Belinda had been the one to suggest him getting this job. Since then Jeff wished he had shoved it in the girl's face.

He didn't look back.

---

The stench of the pollution the bus gave off was disgusting – Jeff had no idea how the students could take it, but perhaps his nose was sensitive. After all, he was a rare nature lover, and rather than hypocritically using cardboard signs to protest tree destruction he enjoyed brief walks in the bush during the weekend, especially after rain. The puddles, despite being laced with air pollutants, felt like bliss under his fingers in comparison to the tap water, almost made of pure chemicals. Pfft.

At lunchtime, the day was surprisingly hot, which was shown by the two hazes on the road, having a concentrated dose of heat as the bus reflected the sun onto the patches.

They stopped at a park, an oak tree by a river bend. The kids immediately spilled out of the bus like water out of a leak, the janitor and teachers shortly following. Despite an urge to sit apart, Jeff sat near the talking students and listened to their conversations as he consumed his sandwich hungrily. Boring. They all talked about the same thing, were they all so shallow? Where was the appreciation for the shade of the tree, the complaints about the chemicals into the river? Jeff sighed irritably, almost crushing the acorn he was rolling in his hands. Perhaps the gardener would like it, he thought after remembering its existence. Jeff would like to see a sapling in the flat, boring school grounds. He slipped it into his pocket.

Only a few minutes later did the teachers call the students back into the bus. Jeff followed them, unaware that the two hazes, which had crept and crouched behind him, followed.

---

_More than hazel eyes this time – this time he saw a face, and surroundings, just as terrified as the eyes. He saw an eye close as a gun was aimed towards him. It shot. Pain erupted. His heart fluttered as he saw her distraught face – no, don't get her upset, he loved her._

_The cavern disappeared in a flurry of dust._

_---_

That night was full of campfires in the forest clearing, with eighth graders cooking their own dinner. They couldn't cook to save their lives, Jeff gruffly acknowledged. They would get food poisoning later, he was willing to bet his job on. The night was full of stars, spilt across the sky in a band that was the Milky Way, the moon nearby. It was beautiful, Jeff thought. He heard some girls mention this, and he smiled briefly. He made to sit down, but then something bumped into him.

He whirled around, only to find nothing except for two faint hazes. Jeff blinked. What - ?

He felt something underneath his boot as he took a step forward. Removing it to another patch of ground, the janitor saw an acorn in a patch of dirt. It must have fallen out of his pocket when he was bumped.

'_Bury it._'

He looked up sharply, frowning. Did one of the hazes just speak? He felt an inclination to obey, but he ignored it, staring into the haze. He blinked, startled. He could swear he saw a brief vision of a face, at his eye level.

'_You heard me. Bury it._'

'Uh, Trouble, there are some mud children around, don't you think they'd notice this guy being refilled?'

As Jeff bent to the ground, abiding the instructions, he heard the two hazes bickering.

'Verbil, it's Kelp to you. And, if you look around, you'll see the mud men unconscious.'

'Oh.'

'That's right. Oh. Now, Verbil, we'll see if this guy's a fairy, and if he is we'll haul him back to Haven. I wonder how long – there he goes!'

The blue sparks rushing up his arm shocked Leland enough to make him faint.

---

'Do you know why you're here?'

Jeffery Leland swatted at the palm pressing to his forehead, his eyes shut, sleep gluing them together.

'Don't do that!' barked the voice. 'You're here because you're under arrest for endangering the discovery of the People! Do you have _any_ idea how many mind wipes we'll have to do? Hundreds! Thousands! How _dare_ you associate yourself with mud men without permission! You're looking at a few hundred years in Howler's Peak for this!'

The janitor opened his eyes, to come face to face with someone short. Really short.

Just as short as him.


	2. Feature Chips

Well, here's chappie two! Yay! You guys will probably suspect the person I think you will, until the end of this chapter…

---

'Who are you?' the janitor blurted out, looking at the figure in front of him as if he were a freak… the same way he had been stared at for a decade, by children and adult alike… but no one like this.

The figure frowned. 'I,' he growled, voice laced with hatred. 'Am Commander Sool to you, convict.'

'Convict? _What_?'

'Don't play dumb!' Sool snapped. 'You have been caught above ground mingling with mud men, as I have already stated. We have had our eyes on you for _ten years_, but we have been unable to prove whether or not you were a short mud man or a fairy!'

'Fairies?' Jeff wrinkled his nose. 'No such thing, those are just children's stories.'

'Don't you dare talk back at me!' snapped Sool. 'It took us years to try to get you to pick up an acorn at the right holy site and bury it, and instead we find you pick up an acorn all by yourself, though not completely! That school trip was arranged for a reason!'

Jeff blinked. His normal irritacy deserted him in favour for confusion. What was the strange… fairy? What was he talking about?

The room looked strange, as well as its inhabitants. Short people. _Just like me…_ It was an interview room, the janitor suspected, looking around.

All of a sudden the door to the curious round room burst open before Jeff could examine anything else, and a… centaur? entered the room, followed by something small and hairy and another fairy, a fraction shorter than the other elves in the room. She looked… familiar… and Jeff's heart fluttered slightly at the sight of her. Love at first sight, _pfft_. No such thing, you're just nervous, he told himself, disgusted. He looked back at the first creature. The centaur was wearing a peculiar helmet, which looked like it was made of tin foil.

'Hello Sool,' said the centaur. 'I took the liberty of hiring private investigators. You'd better give me a raise for this.'

Looking at the expression on Sool's face, the janitor wouldn't have been surprised if the centaur – who looked like he worked here – was fired on the spot. He was very shocked to find that instead of doing this, the commander yelled at him.

'WHAT DID YOU DO THAT FOR!'

'Because,' said the centaur indignantly, his feathers ruffled slightly. 'There must be some important reason as to why this fairy,' he jerked his shiny head towards the janitor. 'Has survived ten years up there without Haven being discovered, all by himself.'

Sool's forehead wrinkled with concentration. 'True, I suppose,' he acknowledged gruffly. He had swallowed his pride. Great.

'So, here are P.I.s Short and Diggums – '

'I already know who they are!' snapped Sool. 'Diggums is a convict, just like – '

'_He_ doesn't,' the centaur said, looking at Jeff.

'Are you really that stupid Sool?' asked the female elf behind the centaur. 'You're looking right into his face. Even I can tell from here he's been mesmerised several times, and not just from Kelp's doing.'

_Huh_?

'See?' the fairy stepped forward, followed by the hairy thing. 'His irises are jagged. For all we know false memories could have been put in there.'

As soon as he saw the fairy P.I properly, Leland was almost positive of something. 'Do I know you?' he asked as she came closer, ignoring his brain which was telling him to flush. She stopped in surprise, blinking, frozen in her tracks. 'You look familiar.'

'There we go!' Short waved her arm, her composure returned, though she looked slightly nervous. 'I don't recognise him,' at this Jeff deflated slightly. 'But he might have seen me from somewhere!'

Jeff concentrated, thinking, ignoring the enraged look on Sool's face. 'I think I dreamed about you actually.'

Short stopped in her tracks, looking completely bewildered. 'What happened in it?' she asked after a moment

Jeff thought for a moment, and then he recalled his dream from several nights ago. _How long _has_ passed?_ he wondered. 'I think you shot me.'

The hairy thing sniggered. 'That's just like you, Holly.' Short shot him a Look. The Look wasn't a nice one.

'What else happened?' she asked, turning back to the alleged fairy. 'It might be a memory, though I don't remember any convicts like you.'

'Uh… we were in this cave like thing. There were doors nearby but they were closed. You shot me and you looked like you were about to cry – ' more sniggering from the hairy thing ' – and I heard two words, but I don't remember them, and then something exploded. I think it was me, the explosion, I don't know, but there was lots of dust.'

Short shot him a glare, turned on her heel and stormed out of the room. Jeff blinked, confused. '_What did I do_?' he piped up. His face grew slightly red as he became angry. 'She asked me what happened and I told her, what is _wrong _with her?'

'Don't worry about it,' the centaur shook his head, but his witty smile had disappeared. Leland's frown didn't disappear, but his anger evaporated as quickly as it came. 'Look,' the centaur continued. 'I did a search on missing persons and we can't find anyone named Leland – I learnt your name years ago, by the way, from other mud men – so I think that was a fake name given to you. I also couldn't identify anyone with your facial features, so I think you've got a chip somewhere.'

At Jeff's confused look, he continued.

'It's a feature chip, one that changes your appearance.'

'Like plastic surgery?' asked Jeff.

'What, that mud man thing? Yes, it's just as expensive, though, and it takes about a week for the appearance to gradually change. My theory is that you had one put into you, programmed to make you look like that. Not your personality, just your physical features. Meanwhile, you are getting mesmerised every hour of every day of that week to prevent you remembering who you are. But,' the centaur paused for breath at this point – he had been speaking without drawing one. Sool looked almost amused, as did the hairy thing. 'There's one fault – a copy of the person's memories get implanted into the chip as well. We'll be putting you in an operation in order to retrieve the chip, presuming there's one in there. We'll give you an X-ray.'

Leland nodded.

---

A day later, the centaur – since then Leland had learnt his name was Foaly – twirled something in his fingers victoriously. 'Well,' he said. 'I, and the X-ray, were right. Your appearance should change in the next week, back to what you looked like. Meanwhile, I'll try and find your proper memories, and you can have a look at them. You'll sleep in the backroom, where you slept last night. Then after, we'll take you back to your family and find out who's responsible.'

Jeff nodded. 'Where's Short?' he asked. 'I want to talk to her.'

Foaly looked surprised. 'She's probably in her office or working on a case somewhere,' he answered. 'I'll give you the address to her work place, but if she's not there don't be surprised, I'll write it down for you.' And he did.

'Umm…' Jeff said, looking at the hieroglyphics.

'Oh, sorry, which language?'

'Mine, preferably.'

'Uh, I can't write in it. Um… I'll just give you the address verbally… wait, the addresses here are in Gnomish as well.' Foaly sighed, and Jeff found himself growing irritated again. 'Oh, just wander around Haven and maybe you'll bump into her. Try a smoothie bar, she's fond of Nettles. Just don't get lost.'

Jeff sighed in irritation. 'Thanks,' he said. 'I guess.' He frowned.

Foaly shrugged and clopped away.

---

Foaly was right. Jeff caught P.I. Short leaving a smoothie bar with one in her left hand. She looked all too ready to dart off with another leer, but Jeff called out and she reluctantly hovered on the spot whilst he caught up with her.

'Um,' he said, almost blushing. _Embarrassment you fool._ 'Your name is Holly, right?'

She nodded, lips pressed closely together.

'You don't mind me calling you that?'

There was a bit of hesitation, until Holly finally shook her head.

'Look, Holly, I'm… um… sorry for upsetting you. I just told you what you wanted to know, I didn't mean to upset you or anyone. It… um… was probably just a dream or something.'

Holly bit her lip and nodded. 'Damn accurate dream it was, though,' she mumbled. 'Maybe you're… psychic… or something weird like that.'

Jeff wondered whether to ask, and risked it. 'What happened?'

Holly was silent for a minute, and Jeff wondered, as she leant against the wall, whether she was going to speak at all. 'Um,' she finally said. 'A… person I used to know. He was killed in an explosion. I was told that there was a sweet spot on the bomb on his chest, which clung there like… mud man glue, I think. And… it just…'

'It… wasn't really a sweet spot?' The term seemed familiar to him.

Holly's eyes were brimming with tears. She looked down and nodded.

'What did you say to the person who told you it was a sweet spot?'

Holly just shrugged. 'I don't feel like talking about it right now,' she finally said. 'But… you look like him, you know. Well, not really, but you act like him.'

'Really?' Jeff raised his eyebrows. This was only his second brief meeting with the fairy.

'Yeah, I heard you raging and storming about something last night, you were yelling at Sool I think,' Jeff cringed as he remembered the argument. Holly looked at him with a slight smile. 'He used to turn purple when he got angry – which was a lot, I tell you.'

'I turn red, sort of,' said Jeff uncertainly. 'At least, that's what the kids at the boarding school told me.'

'The place you worked at?' asked Holly.

'Yep. Ten hellish years, let me tell you.'

'But that's how long we've been keeping an eye on you, according to Foaly,' frowned Holly. 'What are your memories before that?'

'Uh, house burnt down during this probe thingy. After that I lived in an apartment with no job, because I worked at home and I was fired for losing all of my information. I was invited to this conference thingy and I met Giovanni – he was running it – his daughter, Belinda, who recommended the job to me – '

'_Belinda?_' said Holly sharply, almost falling over. 'What was her last name?'

'Zito.'

'Oh no, it's Opal! I'll have to tell Foaly about this, come on!'

Jeff blinked as Holly rushed off. He ran to follow her. 'Her name's Belinda, not – '

'Belinda Zito was one of her aliases!' said Holly, panting already despite being used to running.

The janitor was stunned. Who was Opal? And why was Holly acting like this? Something stirred. He didn't know what.

---

Back in the Ops booth…

'This sounds bad,' said the centaur, pale, when he learnt of this. He swivelled round on his specially designed chair. Jeff resisted from staring at all the computers… 'But, as far as I know, during the time of the probe nobody went missing. This is weird. What's worse is that Koboi's at large now as well.' Foaly frowned. 'Maybe you went missing before that,' he suggested. 'Before ten years ago.' Leland shrugged.

He felt something staring at him. Turning to his left, he spotted Holly staring at him. He almost flushed. 'What?' he said.

'Your jaw looks different,' she noted.

'Since when have you been looking there?'

Holly blushed and turned away.

'Feature chip!' said Foaly, jumping back into the conversation. 'We found one inside him and removed it this morning, so his face is changing already. Holly,' Foaly continued, his tone changing. 'Sool's got a job for you, and it might take a few days. Better go find him before he blows his top.'

'He probably already has,' groaned Leland aloud.

When Foaly asked how he knew that, Jeff had no idea.

---

When Holly came back at the end of the week, she was exhausted. There had been an important mission – to mind wipe thousands of men, women and children, with… portable mind wipe thingies. In her tiredness she couldn't remember their proper name. Holly almost felt furious at Jeffery Leland, but wasn't. She decided not to punch him in the face as soon as she saw him again, but would she recognise him?

When she got to the Ops booth, Foaly was talking to someone, someone Holly knew. Her jaw dropped as the person nodded and walked away. Foaly looked worried when he turned around and saw her.

'Holly,' he said. 'That's Jeff. He still doesn't remember.'

To say she was gob smacked would have been an understatement. Then…

'Is… is that Grub Kelp?'

---

Twist? Or did you expect that?

:D **Snicker**


	3. Grub's Pink Dress

Dr. F. Roy Dean Schlipe – Since when did I say it was Grub? Look at the wording carefully. **Snigger**

Dim Aldebaran – I'm going to edit the last chapter some more after New Year. Does this seem like an improvement? I hope so! **Falls over**

---

_To say she was gob smacked would have been an understatement. Then…_

'_Is… is that Grub Kelp?'_

Foaly looked at Holly incredulously. 'Has the smell Mulch Diggums created messed with your eyes? Of course not – '

Holly pointed behind the centaur.

'I know he's behind me!' said the centaur, bristling, 'Holly, Mulch's farts – '

'KELP!' roared Sool, suddenly appearing from behind Holly. He brushed violently past a shocked Holly and a confused centaur. 'GET OUT OF THAT PINK DRESS AND STOP PRANCING AROUND!'

There was a protesting. Foaly turned around and promptly wished he hadn't. Grub Kelp in a dress wasn't a pretty sight. 'But mummy told me to bring it into work to show – '

'I don't CARE what your mummy said!' snapped Sool in return. 'Get out of that dress immediately, or you'll be fired for embarrassing the LEP!'

'No fair!'

'I DON'T CARE WHAT'S FAIR AND WHAT'S NOT FAIR, YOU – '

'Holly,' said Foaly, ignoring Grub and Sool's bickering. 'You've got to go see J – Leland. Jeff Leland.'

'But, I – ' Holly had really wanted to talk to someone – the person Foaly had been talking to. She strained her eyes and stood on her toes to see past Sool and Kelp, but he had disappeared.

'You'll want to see him!' snapped Foaly good-naturedly. 'Or have your eyes gained magnets that are attracted to semi naked Grub getting out of his mother's dress?'

Holly cringed. 'Fine!' she said. 'I'll go see Leland! Have you got his memories from the chip yet?'

Foaly's expression became serious. 'I have,' he said shortly.

'Foaly, what's wrong?'

'You'll find out once you see Leland.'

Holly nodded. She scanned the room for… no, the person she had seen earlier wasn't there. She'd go see Leland, then.

'He's in his room,' said Foaly.

Holly gave a disappointed sigh as soon as Foaly disappeared into the Ops booth. She would find the person later.

But, as soon as she entered Jeff's room, she saw him waiting there.

'Frond,' she breathed.

The figure on the bed looked up into her surprised face.

---

The plan had been perfect. After all, how can you take revenge on someone if they're dead? What you do is make their friends - did Julius Root even _have_ friends? - suffer as much as possible, and it certainly looked like they were suffering.

Opal almost smirked, instead purring like a cat, curling up into a ball on her luxurious bed. The plan had been perfect. Slip a semi - dysfunctional relocator behind the box, and there was either a chance of the victim dying a very painful death, or shattering into a million pieces and transported into another place.

Luckily, it had been functional enough to make him intact upon arrival even though, according to the way the box had blown up and sent a static signal, not at first.

Oh, of course, he _had_ a few broken ribs, but that was easily healed. The _mesmer_ was inflicted so many times to prevent the fairy escaping, but mud men were so stupid they'd barely notice. They didn't, Opal was satisfied to know.

Jeffery Leland, Opal was pleased to learn, had walked into his new future without any problems.

And Julius Root was forgotten.

---

Holly was shocked. The figure on the bed watched her, obviously confused, as she leant against the door name. 'Frond!' she said again. Her eyes were wide open and she leant her hand against her forehead. She choked out a nervous laugh. 'How… how did you survive?'

'_What?_'

'You can't have survived that explosion! How did you – '

'Holly,' Foaly had just appeared in the doorway next to her. 'He still doesn't remember. To him, he's just Jeffery Leland.' The centaur rolled his eyes and all seriousness disappeared. 'Heh, oh boy, won't this whole affair be priceless afterwards when he _does_ remember! Heh heh heh…'

'Foaly, how do we get him to remember?' said Holly urgently. Leland watched in amusement. 'He _needs _to remember!'

Foaly shrugged. 'Hopefully the memories on disk will be enough to trigger them,' he said. 'Maybe not, but who knows? Ah, I can see it now, his reputa – '

'Foaly!' for once in a long time Holly was irritated with the centaur. Foaly rolled his eyes.

'Frond, Holly,' he said. 'Anyone would think there was no hope left, the way you're acting… He's going to be _so_ embarrassed about this!' Foaly sniggered again. Holly silently fumed.

---

Shame on me for the plot device of Grub's mother's dress. Sorry, I wanted to lead you all on a bit. **Evil laugh**

Anyway, sorry for the lateness, I've been busy coz of Christmas and stuff. And I'm doing NaNoWriYe (last minute decision) so I've been writing like crazy to get my outline done before new year. **Cringe** I'm only up to thirty pages.

Also, I'm doing Holly and Root pairings for fanfic100, so expect alotta fics!


	4. Author's note, sorry for lack of updates

I really apologise for the lack of updates. For weeks (months, now?) has been really slow and would not load for me, and on top of that I've had schoolwork too. I have barely been writing ANYTHING lately, (except for my sim legacy) I'm really sorry!

Until then, it's time for long overdue review replies!

Stiggy – Red is good, friend. Purple is even better!

Mulch Diggums – Aww, I'm sowwy. Pets on back and gives lollipop 

Wait… that was my last one…

Feel special!

Crazy Pineapple Lady – Why, thankyou. :)

Dim Aldebaran – Thanks. The bit with Grub just might be an important part later. I couldn't just randomly dump it in the middle without explanation!

Though, yeah, the toying bit, I just put it there because it felt fun. Wink 

Til next time… whenever that may be. **Sniff**


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